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OBITUARY ADDllESSES 




ON THE 


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OCCASION OF THE DEATH 






OF THE 





HON. 


witjja:\!: k. 

OF ALABAMA, 

• 


TCTNa, 


VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 


STATES 




DELIVERED IN THE 




SENATE AND IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OF THE UNITED STATES, 




EIGnxiI OF DECEMBER, 1853 


^m OF co^-fi?^ 


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WASHINGTON: 


^5i):oF_wA^r_^y 




PRINTED BY BEVERLEY TUCKER. 






1854. 






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. l(^f>Ji:n 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



December 12, 1853. 



On motion by Mr. Adams, of Mississippi, it was 
Resolved, That the Committee on Printing cause 
to be published and bound in pamphlet form, in 
such manner as may seem to them appropriate, for 
the use of the Senate, ten thousand copies of the 
addresses made by the members of the Senate, and 
members of the House of Representatives, together 
with so much of the Message of the President of 
the United States as relates to the death of the 
Hon. William E. King, late Vice President of the 
United States. 

Attest, 

ASBURY DiCKIXS, 

Secretary. 



DEATH OF WILLIAM R. KING. 



Extract from the Annual Moisaye of the President of 
the United States to Congress. 

"Since the adjournment of Congress, the Vice 
President of the United States has passed from the 
scenes of earth, without having entered upon the 
duties of the station to which he had been called 
by the voice of his countrymen. Having occupied, 
almost continuously, for more than thirty years, a 
seat in one or the other of the two Houses of Con- 
gress, and having by his singular purity and 
wisdom secured unbounded confidence and uni- 
versal respect, his failing health was watched by 
the nation with painful solicitude. His loss to the 
country, under all the circumstances, has been 
justl}^ regarded as irreparable." 



OBITUARY ADDRESSES. 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Thursday, December 8, 1853. 

Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, rose and addressed the Senate as 
follows : 

Since the adjournment of the last Congress an 
event has occurred which it becomes us to notice. 
The American people have lost a Vice President, 
and the Senate a Presiding Officer, by the death of 
William R. King, who departed this life in April 
last at his home in the State of Alabama. I rise, 
as the Senators from that State are unavoidably 
absent, to ask that we may pause for a day at least in 
our deliberation upon the affairs of life, to devote it 
to the memory of one who was bound to us by so 
many personal and official ties. Surely, sir, there 
are none within the limits of this wide-spread Con- 



8 

fedoracy, to whom the life and services of William 
R. King are known, who would not be ready with 
some offering, either of public respect or personal 
affection, to Ijestow upon his tomb. There have 
Ijeen few public men, whose lives have been as long 
and as active as his, who have made more friends, 
and none, I am sure, ever left fewer enemies. Nor 
was his one of those cold and impassive characters, 
which shed their light without heat, but its kindly 
influences fell with genial and friendly warmth 
within whatever circle he might move. 

It is a happy thing for a country when the lives 
of its public men may be thrown freely open to the 
world, and challenge its closest scrutiny, with a 
consciousness on the part of the friendly critic that 
there is no blot to l)e concealed, and no glaring 
lault which a love of truth forbids him to deny, and 
his own sense of right scarcely allows him to palliate. 
Here, at least, is a puldic man. in whose life there 
can be found no instance of a mean or equivocating 
action, none of a departure from the self-imposed 
restraints of a refined and lofty sense of honor, and 
none in which either the fear of man or the seduc- 



9 

tions of ambition tempted him to a deed which 
could destroy either his own self-resjoect or the 
respect of others for him. He trod the difficult and 
devious paths to political preferment long and suc- 
cessfully, and yet he kept his robes unsoiled by the 
vile mire which so often pollutes those ways. It 
is said, that the story of every human life, if rightly 
told, may convey a useful lesson to those who sur- 
vive. Of all the public men whom I have known, 
there are none whose lives teach more impressively 
the great moral of the strength which public virtue 
gives than that of Colonel King. His was an in- 
stance in which greatness was achieved without the 
aid of those brilliant qualities whose rare assem- 
blage the world calls genius, but by what is better 
far, a sound judgment, a resolute purpose to pursue 
the right, and a capacity to gather wisdom from 
experience. 

He was no orator, and yet from the force of 
character he could wield an influence which mere 
oratory never commanded. He had none of that 
presumptuous self-confidence which so often mis- 
leads ourselves and others, and which, though a 



10 

dangerous, is still a commanding quality ; but he 
knew how to inspire a people with a just confidence 
in the soundness of his judgment and the integrity 
of his purpose so as to be looked to as a safe de- 
positary of trust and power. 

Although gentle and kind in his intercourse with 
others, he could be stern enough when the public 
interests or his personal honor required it. He was 
a man, sir, whose whole soul would have sickened 
under a sense of personal dishonor. 

It is not surprising, then, that each step in the 
political career of such a man should have been 
crowned with iniblic honors. At the a2:e of twentv- 
one he was elected to the Legislature of North Caro- 
lina, his native State, where he served until he was 
made Solicitor. In that capacity he acted for two 
years; at the expiration of which time he was again 
returned to the Legislature, in which body he served 
during the years 1S08-D. In ISU), being then 
twenty-five years of age, he was sent to the House 
of Rei)resentatives of the United States, where he 
served from 1811 to 181 G, when he resigned to go 
abroad as Secretar\- of Leuation to ^Fr. Pincknev, 



11 

our Minister to Russia. Upon liis return he emi- 
grated to Alabama, where he was almost immedi- 
ately sent to their Constitutional Convention. 

And at the first session of the first Legislature 
which assembled afterwards, he was sent to the 
Senate of the United States from the State of Ala- 
bama, where he may be said to have served continu- 
ously, until his election to the Vice Presidency, with 
the exception of two years, when he was Minister to 
France. Finally, he was elected the Vice President 
of the United States, by a large majority of the 
American people. As he ascended step by step to 
this elevation, his vision seemed to grow with his 
horizon, and when the occasion came he was always 
found equal to it. For, to the aid of a sound judg- 
ment, he brought, as he grew older, the wisdom of 
a large experience. 

His political career may be said to have been one 
triumphant march through life, a march in which 
his step neither faltered nor stumbled, in ascending 
to that place, which was perhaps the chief object of 
his aspiration. And yet as if to show that even the 
most successful of men must sooner or later feel 



12 

the emptiness of the earthly objects of our usual 
pursuit, that much-prized honor was to him tlie 
Dead Sea fruit which turns to ashes on the lips. 
It came, but it came too late. The breath of public 
applause could not revive the flame which flickered 
in the Lamp of life. In vain did the assiduity of 
relatives and friends surround him with aflection- 
ate care ; in vain did the aspirations of a whole peo- 
ple ascend to Heaven for his recovery. The Ijalniy 
influences of neither sea nor sky could revive or re- 
store him. When the public messenger came to 
clothe him with the forms of office, his chief earthly 
wish was to see his home once more, and in the 
midst of familiar scenes to die amomi'st his friends. 
His desire was gratified. Life and its busy scenes 
on this side the grave are now closed on him for ever. 
Ihit its tale yet remains to be told. Not by me, 
sir, or at this time. But it will be told in the chro- 
nicles of his State hereafter, when it may become a 
laljor of love to some of her sons to write the story 
of its founders and sages. It will be told in our 
own politicnl history ly whoever may portray tbe 
stirring and eventful scenes in which he acted a 



13 

prominent and useful part. It will be told, too, 
and perhaps heard, with most interest in the tradi- 
tions of a family of which he was the ornament 
and pride. 

Mr. President, those to whom our people have 
been long accustomed to look in times of difficulty 
and emergency for counsel and opinion, are falling 
fast around us. It is an anxious thing to feel their 
loss at a period like this, pregnant with change, and 
teeming, perhaps, with great and strange events. 
The men we cannot recall; but let us preserve 
their memories ; let us study their teachings, and 
it will be well if, in many respects, we shall follow 
their examples : 

I offer the following resolution 

Resolved, That from respect to the late William R. King, 
Vice President of the United States, and President of the Senate, 
the chair of the President of the Senate be shrouded with black; 
and, as a further testimony of respect to the memory of the de- 
ceased, the members of the Senate will go into mourning by wear- 
ing crape on their left arm for thirty days. 

Ordered, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate this 
resolution to the House of Representatives. 



14 



Mr. Everett, of Massachusetts. 

.Mh. Presidext : I have been requested to second 
the motion wliioli has just been made by the Senator 
from Virginia. I do so witli great cheerfulness. It 
was my good fortune to enjoy the acquaintance of 
the late Vice President — I hope, even some portion 
of his friendly regard — for a longer period, probably, 
than most of those within the sound of my voice — 
a period of nearly thirty years. Such being the 
case, I feel as if I ought not to remain silent at 
this last moment, when our relation to him as mem- 
bers of this Senate are, by the performance of this 
day's melancholy duty, to be closed for ever. 

There is an ancient maxim, sir, founded at once 
in justice and right feeling, which bids us "say 
nothing but what is good of the dead." I can 
obey this rule, in reference to the late Vice Presi- 
dent, without violating the most scrupulous dic- 
tates of sincerity. I can say nothing but what is 
good of him, for I have never seen or heard anv- 
thing but good of him fur thirty years that 1 have 
known liim personally and l>y reputation. 



15 

It would hardly be expected of me, to attempt 
to detail the incidents of the private life or the 
public career of the late Vice President. That 
duty belongs to others, by whom it has been, or 
will no doubt be, appropriately performed. I re- 
gret, particularly, on this occasion, the unavoida- 
ble absence of our colleagues from Alabama. It 
is the province of those of us, not connected with 
him by political associations, especially of those 
inhabiting remote parts of our common country, 
to express their cordial concurrence in the afiec- 
tionate praises, pronounced by his fellow-citizens 
and neighbors. 

Few of the public men of the day had been so 
intimately associated with the Senate as the late 
Vice President. 1 tliink he had been a member 
of the body for more years than any person now 
belonging to it. Besides this, a relation of a dif- 
ferent kind had grown up between him and the 
Senate. The Federal Constitution devolves upon 
the people, through the medium of the Electoral 
Colleges, the choice of the presiding officer of this 
body. But whenever the Senate was called to 



16 

supply the place temporarily, for a long course of 
years, and till he ceased to belong to it, it turned 
spontaneously to him. 

He undoubtedly owed this honor to distinguished 
qualifications for the chair. He possessed, in an 
eminent degree, that quickness of perception, that 
promptness of decision, that familiarity with the 
now somewhat complicated rules of congressional 
proceedings, and that urbanity of manner, which 
are required in a presiding officer. Not claiming, 
although an acute and forcible debater, to rank 
with his illustrious contemporaries, whom now, 
alas ! we can mention only to deplore — with Cal- 
houn, with Clay, and with Webster (I name them 
alphabetically, and who will presume to arrange 
them on any other principle), whose unmatched 
eloquence so often shook the walls of this Senate 
— the late Vice President possessed the rare and 
the highly important talent of controlling, with 

impartiality, the storm of debate, and moderating 

« 

between mighty spirits, whose ardent conllicts at 
times seemed to threaten the stability of the Re- 

[)nl)lic. 



17 

In fact, sir, he was higlilj endowed with what 
Cicero beautifully commends as the honi Scnatoris 
prudent la, the "wisdom of a good Senator;" and 
in his accurate study and ready application of the 
rules of parliamentary law, he rendered a service 
to the country, not perhaps of the most brilliant 
kind, but assuredly of no secondary importance. 
There is nothing which more distinguishes the 
great national race to which we belong, than its 
aptitude for government by deliberative assem- 
blies; its willingness, while it asserts the largest 
liberty of parliamentary right, to respect what 
the Senator from Virginia in another connexion 
has called the self-imposed restrictions of parlia- 
mentary order ; and I do not think it an exagge- 
ration to say, that there is no trait in its charac- 
ter which has proved more conducive to the des- 
patch of the public business, to the freedom of 
debate, to the honor of the country, — I will say, 
even which has done more to establish and per- 
petuate constitutional liberty. 

The long and faithful senatorial career of the 
late Vice President received at last its appropriate 



18 

reward. The people of the United States, having 
often witnessed the disposition of the Senate to 
place him at their head, and the dignified and 
acceptable manner in wdiich he bore himself in 
that capacity, conferred upon him, a twelvemonth 
since, that office, which is shown by repeated and 
recent experience to Ije above the second, if not 
actually the first, in their gift; the office which 
placed him constitutionally and permanently, during 
its continuance, in the chair of the Senate. 

A mysterious dispensation of Providence has 
nipped these crowning honors in the bud. A dis- 
ease, for which the perpetual summer and per- 
fumed breezes of the tropics afibrded no balm, 
overtook him at an age when he might, in the 
course of nature, have reasonably looked forward 
to still many years of active service. Clothed by 
a special and remarkable act of Congress, even 
while under a foreign jurisdiction, with the last 
constitutional qualification to enter upon the high 
office to which he had jjeen elected, he returned, 
not to exercise its functions, but to seek his much- 
loved home, and there to die. 



19 

Thus, sir, lie has left us to chase for a little while 
lona'er the shadows Avhich he has exchan";ed for 
unutterable realities. He has left us prematurely 
for everything but his spotless name, and his en- 
trance on the well-earned honors of his unaml)ilious 
career. And we. Senators, for all the interchange 
of kindness — for all the cordial intercourse of private 
life — for all the acts of co-operation in the public 
service — to which for at least four years the Senate 
was looking forward in its connexion with him, 
have nothing left to offer to his friends and his 
memory, but the unavailing tribute of this last 
mournful farewell. 

Mr. President, I second the resolutions of the 
Senator from Virginia. 



Mr. Cass, of Michigan. 

Mr. President : Again has death invaded the 
high place of our land, and has taken from us a 
citizen distinguished by his talents, his worth, and 
his services, and enjoying the confidence and affec- 
tion of his countrymen. In the Providence of 



20 

God, these visitations come to warn us, that none 
are exempt from the decree, that in life we are in 
the midst of death, and that l)e ye also ready is a 
solemn admonition, announct-d to us from the cradle 
to the grave, by the mighty and the lowly, as they 
successively fall before the groat destroyer. The 
lesson is the more impressive, the higher is the 
position, and the more eminent the character of 
him, whose departure we may be called upon to 
mourn. And when one who occupied the second 
station in our country, is summoned from the duties 
of this life to the responsibility of that Mhieh is 
to come, as the loss is a national one, the manifes- 
tation of public sympathy, and the acknowledgment 
of the public grief, should be national also. Our 
lamented friend, the late Vice President, has been 
tak(Mi from us. full of vears, indeed, and of honors, 
but in the midst of his usefulness, and when he was 
just prepared to enter upon the high career to which 
he had been called by the American people. Upon 
this occasion, I desire to do little more than to ex- 
press those sentiments of aflectionate regard, a\ ith 
wliieh au acMiuaiutance of niauv vears had inspired 



21 

me, kcaving to others, who have this day well ful- 
filled the task, to present those features of his cha- 
racter and services which endeared him to his 
countrymen in life, and will endear to them his 
memory, now that the scenes of life are for ever 
closed upon him. 

His career was eminently useful and fortunate : 
and in the whole range of American statesmen, 
there are few, indeed, to whom our youth can 
better look, when seeking models of imitation and 
encouragement, than to William R. Kixg. 

Firm but courteous, frank and fearless, of high 
honor and irreproachable morals, he brought a 
vigorous intellect, and varied and extensive in- 
formation, to the public counsels ; and the ripe 
fruit of his experience, joined to these endowments, 
gave conviction to his opinion, and authority to 
his example. We always heard him with atten- 
tion, for he elucidated every subject he investigated, 
and brought to our discussions the stores of his 
knowledge and experience, with a manner as un- 
assuming as it was captivating. While loving the 
State in which he so long resided, and which had 



22 

given him so many proofs of confidence and affec- 
tion, he loved also oar common country, and at 
home and abroad, proved himself the true patriot, 
the able and faithful citizen. In all the relations 
of private life he was loved and honored, as well 
from the amenitv of his manner as from the kind- 
ness of his heart, and in the social circle he was 
the very model of the accomplished gentleman. 
For almost half a century he was in the public 
service, and was intimately connected with many 
of the great events which marked that long and 
stirring period, and he proved himself equal to all 
the circumstances in which he was placed, sustain- 
ing himself with signal ability among men whose 
renown is written in imperishable characters upon 
the history of our country. 

But better than all this, and above all this, he 
was a sincere Christian; adding another to the 
lonn; list of eminent men who have searched the 
Gospel of Jesus, and have A)und it the will and 
word ol' (lod. In liis last illness, when the world and 
the thinii's of tlu' woild were fast fading before him. 
he found hope and consolation in the promises of 



23 

the Saviour; and calmly surveying the approach 
of death, he looked beyond its power to the glorious 
immortality promised to the belie*^er. The places 
that knew him will know him no more ; but though 
dead, his memory is embalmed in the hearts of his 
countrymen, and there it will live, honored and 
cherished, long after all those who are now taking 
part in this tribute to his worth, shall have fol- 
lowed him in the journey, where, for a brief space, 
he has preceded us through the dark valley of the 
shadow of death. 



Mr. Douglas, of Illinois. 

I can scarcely hope to add anything of value to 
what has been so well said by others. For the last 
eight months the mournful event, which is now 
officially announced to the Senate, has been known, 
felt, and lamented by us all. In the mean time, 
we have passed through scenes well calculated to 
engross our thoughts and divert our attention, if not 
to obscure the freshness of the first impression, or 
assuage the keenness of that sorrow which filled 



24 

every heart. But no matter what the lapse of time 
nor its results, the meeting of the Senate, and the 
absence of one whom all admired and loved, and 
delighted to greet and honor, calls up associations 
and reminiscences which impart to the occasion all 
the effects of a sudden and unexpected bereavement. 
Those whose happiness it was to be associated with 
Colonel King, in public duty and private inter- 
course, are alone capable of realizing the extent of 
our loss. His example in all the relations of life, 
public and private, may be safely commended to our 
children as worthy of imitation. Few men in this 
country have ever served the public for so long a 
period of time, and with a more fervent patriotism 
or unblemished reputation. For forty-five years 
he devoted his energies and talents to the pertbnn- 
auce of arduous public duties — always perlbrming 
his trust with fidelity and ability, and never failing 
to command the confidence, admiration, and grati- 
tude oi" an enlightened constituency. AVhile he 
held, in succession, numerous ollicial stations, in each 
of which he maintained and enhanced his previous 
reputation, yet the Senate was the place of his 



25 

choice, and the theatre of his greatest usefuhiess. 
Here he sustained an enviable reputation during a 
period of thirty years' senatorial service, always 
manifesting his respect for the body by his courtesy 
and propriety of deportment. Here, where his 
character was best understood, and his usefulness 
and virtues most highly appreciated, his loss, as a 
public man and a private friend, is most painfully 
felt and deeply lamented. 



Mr. Clayton, of Delaware. 

I shall only pay a debt of honor to the spirit of 
the dead by offering my humble testimonial in ad- 
dition to what has been so appropriately and elo- 
quently expressed by others. A quarter of a 
century has elapsed since I became acquainted with 
William R. King as a brother Senator on this floor. 
During the greater part of that long period I was 
an attentive observer of his course as a public man, 
and I cannot in justice remain silent when an op- 
portunity is offered of paying a tribute to the 
memory of one who so honorably deserved it. 



26 

That man who, dying, can be said to have passed 
his days without a stain upon his reputation, has 
justly earned the honors due to a well-spent life. 
The Roman poet has immortalized the sentiment — 

^^ Nee male v'lxit, qui natus moriensque fefellit" 

but William R. King, who was everywhere known, 
may be truly said to have passed from the cradle 
to the grave without a blot upon his name. 

The chief part of his history is written upon the 
records of this Senate, in which his high character as 
a leuislator and a statesman was hrndv established. 
I would avoid the commonplaces employed on 
occasions similar to the present, when speaking of 
such a man. It is not enough to say of him that 
he perforuied his duties well as a member of the 
Senate. He was distinguished by the scrupulous 
c/3rrectness of his conduct. He was remarkable for 
iiis quiet ami unol)trnsive, but active, practical use- 
I'ulness as a legislator. He was emphatically a 
hnsinesa memhcr of the Senate, and, without osten- 
tation, oriiiinated and perfected more useful mea- 
sures than many who fillc(l the public eye by greater 



27 

display, and daily commanded the applause of a 
listening' Senate. He never souiilit with some of 
his cotemporaries to earn a brilliant reputation by 
the exhibition of splendid powers of oratory ; and, 
to his honor be it spoken, he never vexed the ear 
of the Senate with ill-timed, tedious, or unnecessary 
debate. He preferred to be checked for silence 
rather than to be tasked for speech. Yet, on all 
occasions, when a great issue was before the country, 
calling for the exercise of manly firmness, courage, 
and patriotism, Mr. King was abreast with those 
who stood foremost for the safety and glory of the 
Republic. 

He graced the chair of the Senate longer than 
any other man that ever occupied it — not continu- 
ously, or by virtue merely of repeated elections, as 
our temporary President, but often also at the re- 
quest of the Presiding Oflicer. I think he was thus 
engaged in the performance of the duties of Presi- 
dent of the Senate during the greater part of the 
terms of live Vice Presidents ; and at last he 
reached the second office in the gift of the people — 
an office excelled in honor only by one other in the 



28 

world. To preside over such an assembly as the 
Senate of the United States, and to do that as he 
did it, was enough to satisfy the highest aspirations 
of an honorable and patriotic ambition. In this 
elevated position he was distinguished (and I may 
add he was never excelled) for the dignity of his 
deportment, the impartiality of his decisions, and 
the promptness and fidelity with which he main- 
tained the order and enforced the rules of this body. 
I can remember no instance in which he lost sight 
of what was due to his own self-respect or the rights 
of his political opponents, by the indulgence of 
party feelings in the chair. Presiding, as he did, 
when party spirit raged in torrents of fire, all just 
men will admit that he could have been no common 
man who maintained his high character for justice 
and impartiality at such a period. A little man, at 
that time, would have shown his littleness by yield- 
ing himself up as an instrument of oppression to 
the minority. But he sought an honest and en- 
during fame, and he obtained it without the em- 
])lo3'ment of any unworthy means, or the slightest 
sacrifice of principle. lie engaged no hireling f)ress, 



29 

no mercenary libeller to traduce others, or to trumpet 
his own fame. He paid respect to the feelings of 
others, and rigidly exacted the observance of the 
same respect for.himself. Generous as he was brave, 
his conduct to his opponents suffering under defeat 
was always liberal and kind ; and, by his inflexible 
truth, he won the entire confidence of men of all 
parties in his own unblemished honor. 

Others have spoken of his services in other places, 
but I shall speak of nothing to which I was not a 
witness. While Mr. King remained in the Senate, 
there was still one member of the body who had 
served with me on this floor during the memorable 
session of 1829-30, and the earlier years of Presi- 
dent Jackson's administration. It is melancholy to 
reflect that nearly all the rest of the Senators of 
that period have closed their career on earth, and 
that not one of those who survive remains here with 
me to-day. 

The master spirits of the time were among the 
Senators of that day. I speak not of the living. 
But here, then, were Clay, Calhoun, Forsyth, Web- 
ster, and Livingston, the learned and laborious 



30 

"Woodbury, the astute Grund}', the witty, sarcastic, 
and ever-ready Holmes, the chissic Robbins, and 
among many others justly distinguished, the grace- 
ful and accomplished orator of Carolina, Robert Y. 
Hayne, 

" Whose words had such a meltinjr flow, 
And spoke of truth so sweetly well, 

They dropped like the serenest snow, 

And all was brifrhtness where thev fell." 

Oh ! I could enumerate, and delight to dwell on, 
the virtues of them all, and then revert to him 
whose fame we now commemorate, as to one not 
inferior in integrity and honor to the proudest 
among them. But these reminiscences are attended 
by the mournful reflection that our connexions with 
them in this world are ended ibr ever — 

"Around us, each dissevered chain 

In sparkling ruin lies, 
And earthly hands can ne'er again 

Unite those broken ties." 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 



31 



Mr. Hunter. 

As a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased, I move that the Senate do now ad- 
journ. 

The motion was agreed to, and the Senate ad- 
journed to Monday. 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

Thursday, December 8, 1853. 

A MESSAGE -was received from the Senate by the hands of 
AsBURY DiCKiNS, its Secretary, as follows : — 

'' In Senate, December 8, 1853. 

" Resolved unanimous! i/, That from respect to the late William 
R. King, Vice President of the United States and President of 
the Senate, the chair of the President be shrouded with black ; 
and as a further testimony of respect for the memory of the de- 
ceased, the members of the Senate will go into mourning by 
wearing crape on the left arm for thirty days. 

" Ordered, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate this 
resolution to the House of Representatives." 

The message having been read — 

Mr. Harris, of Alabama, rose and said : 

Mr. Speaker : The tidings of the mournful event 
which the resoUition from the Senate is intended 



34 

to comniGmorate, have months ago been heralded 
to every hamlet of our wide-spread Confederacy, 
and the generous hearts of even distant lands have 
mingled their regrets with our own, that a wise 
and virtuous and distinguished man has been 
stricken from the number of earth's children. 
Tears have ceased to flow; and hearts the most 
deeply penetrated by the afllicting visitation of 
Providence have learned to contemplate it with 
tliat spirit of resignation which time ever supplies 
as a medicine for the sorrows of earth. 

But in conformity with a solemn and impressive 
usafre, the Senate, over whose deliberations the 
distinguished dead so long presided, with such 
marked ability, pauses from its labors, to conse- 
crate a brief day to the memory of AVilliam E. 
King. And while the sympathizing sons of sister 
States gather around his bier, I crave the indul- 
gence of the House of Representatives, while, in 
behalf of tlie State of Alabama, I ofter the tribute 
of her homage and respect to the memory of her 
most distinguished citi/en. 

Recent events, familiar to us all, render unneces- 



35 



san- anything more than a cursory allusion to the 
political services of William R. King. 

He was born on the 7tli day of April, 1786, in 
the State of North Carolina. Cominu- into beincr 
almost cotemporaneously with the adoption of our 
Federal Constitution, his eventful and protracted 
life covers one of the most remarkable periods in 
the history of the world. AVhen the dawn of 
mature manhood first began to open upon him, 
the great experiment of self-government, whose 
principles were evolved from our revolutionary 
struggle, had just fairly emerged from the misty 
domain of speculation, and assumed the form and 
semblance of a philosophic truth. Instinct with 
the spirit of the age, and true, as he proved to be 
through life, to the principles of the republican 
school, he connected his fortunes with that party 
which claimed, as the exponents of its political 
faith, Jefferson and Madison. 

He had no sooner attained his majority than he 
was elected a member of the Legislature from his 
native countv. He was re-elected the ensuino' 
year ; but the Legislature, of which he was a 



36 

member, having conferred upon him the solicitor- 
ship of the judicial circuit in Mliicli he resided, 
he resigned his seat in that body. After holding 
the olHce of Solicitor for two years, he was again 
returned to the Legislature for the years 1808-9. 
In 1810, so soon as he had attained the age pre- 
scribed by the Constitution, he was elected a mem- 
ber of Congress from the Wilmington district, in 
which body he continued to serve until the year 
ISIG. During this period of American history, 
there were just ascending from the verge of the 
political horizon, and rapidly tending towards the 
zenith, names which were destined to illustrate the 
greatness of our country, and impress themselves 
imperishably upon her monumental records. That 
immortal triumvirate, Calhoun, Clay, and AVebster, 
for whose decease the sable habiliments of a Na- 
tion's woe have scarce disappeared, were just then 
beginning to exhibit the giant proportions of their 
unmatched intellects, and entrancing their country- 
men and the world l>y tlie electric power of their 
resistless elo(pience. Randolph and Lowndes were 
there too — and other great names indelibly secured 



37 

by the diamond pen of history's muse. Among 
these stood William R. King, a co-worker and a 
compeer. Differing somewhat from tliem all, in 
many of those great attributes of mind, which 
dazzle and lead captive the admiring throng; yet 
in all the elements, which go to make up the useful 
legislator — in prudence, caution, firmness, wisdom, 
and patriotism, occupying with them the same 
proud pedestal ; and lending his influence and his 
voice to the successful vindication of " free trade 
and sailor's rights." 

In 181G, Mr. King, having been tendered the 
appointment of Secretary of Legation under Mr. 
Pinckney, resigned his seat in Congress, and ac- 
companied that distinguished statesman, first to 
Naples, and afterwards to St. Petersburg. Having 
returned home, at the expiration of two years, he 
determined to break from the endearments of his 
fatherland, and cast his fortunes in the then almost 
unpeopled wilds of distant Alabama. This land 
was now to constitute the theatre of his after use- 
fulness. God gave him sufficient length of dajs to 
see " the wilderness blossom as the rose ;" and 



38 

Ijeliold the Territory, which he had adopted as his 
home, emerge from its chrysalis state, to the full- 
blown condition of a sovereign party to the Union, 
and under the nurturing appliances of intellect 
and industry, attaining a degree of wealth and 
prosperity commensurate with his own increai^ing 
fame. 

Soon after Mr. King's arrival in the Territory 
he was deputed a delegate to the convention which 
assembled to organize a State government. To 
the performance of the delicate and responsible 
duties of this new position he brought the aid of 
that matured experience he had gathered in the 
councils of the Union, and was one of the most 
active and ellicient of those who laid the founda- 
tions of our State polity. So soon as the constitu- 
tion was put in operation he was chosen one of 
the Senators from that State in the Congress of 
the United States. From that period, Mr. Speaker, 
to the time when the voice of all the people of the 
Union called Willia.u 1\. King to the second ollice 
in their gift — a period of more than thirty years, 
he continued to speak for Alabama upon the Hoor 



39 

of the Senate ; saving the brief period of two years, 
during which time he represented this Government 
at the Court of St. Cloud. Tn verity, he was to 
Alabama a true and faithful son, as she was unto 
him a cherishing mother ! Truly, has he filled the 
measure of a patriot's duty, for his entire life was 
devoted to the service of his country. 

As may justly be inferred, from the long and 
unchecked career of success which distinguished 
the life of Mr. King, and the respect and confi- 
dence he always enjoyed, his popularity was not 
the result of those factitious aids which give to 
demagogues and political tricksters an ephemeral 
existence, but was the natural consequence and 
well-deserved recompense of his exalted qualities 
of head and heart. For forty years he brought to 
his country's use the rich gifts of his patriotism 
and his wisdom — the glowing energies of his early 
manhood, and the matured counsels of a wise and 
honorable old age. Intelligence, honesty, and fide- 
lity distinguished the administration of every pub- 
lic trust confided to his hands. Amidst all the 
fluctuations of public sentiment, and all the muta- 



40 

tions of party, he pursued the path of duty by the 
light of principle, and dying, leaves behind him 
an example of consistency and public virtue upon 
which the patriot may ponder with pleasure, and 
Jroin which the mere aspirant for worldly honor 
may draw an instructive lesson. His life is a 
beautiful illustration of the truth, that the line of 
duty is alike the path of safety and the way to 
honor. 

The personal character of Mr. Kixg was aflUient 
in all those qualities which contribute to the for- 
mation of an almost perfect man. To wisdom and 
patriotism as a statesman ; to love of right, and de- 
votion to princi})le, he added a temper respectl'ul 
and courteous to others ; a courage unquestioned, 
and honor intact. No stain blurred the pure ermine 
of his good name. Concedimi; to all men tlie full 
measure of what was their due, he was punctilious 
in the exaction of what was due to himself. Exempt 
from that acrimony which party collision too often 
engenders, and always tolerant of the opinions of 
others, he was inliexible and unswerving in the 
maintenance of his own — 



41 

" Virjusttis, et tenax propositi." 

In all those more intimate and tender relations 
which bound him to his friends, his kindred, and 
his servants, he was all that friendship could ask, 
or affection claim, or humanity and kindness en- 
join. While in that higher and more solemn rela- 
tion, which he bore to the Author of us all, he was 
exact and scrupulous in the discharge of all those 
duties, enjoined by a regard for the sacred behests 
of religion ; and in the closing scenes of life's fleet- 
ing, final hour, he leaned with humble trust upon 
the merits of his Saviour. 

" His life was geutle — and the elements 
So mixed in liira, that nature might stand up 
And say to all the world — ' This was a man.' " 

In the first month of this year, the Vice Presi- 
dent resigned his post of Presiding Ofllcer of the 
Senate, with the vain hope that a winter residence 
in Cuba might ameliorate his health. But the 
balmy breezes of the ocean gem could not relume 
the waning fire that fiickered to its close. Death 
was demanding its victim, and the dying patriot 



42 

felt that he must needs obey the summons. He 
hastened home from Cuba to spend his last hours 
among the friends who watched with such intense 
solicitude his gradual decline. Like the imprisoned 
monarch whose life went out on the storm-rocked 
island of the sea, he did not wish to sleep upon a 
foreign strand, but rather on the banks of the 
Alabama, " in the bosom of the people he had loved 
so well," and served so faithfully. In the midst of 
that people he died — beneath that sod he takes his 
final rest. But a fragrance shall still cling around 
his memory, exhaled from the clustering virtues 
which beautified his character. Calmly he con- 
fronted the icy monster; and with Christian dignity, 
resigned hi in to his fate. "Be silent," said he, to 
the anxious friends around him, " let me die quietly." 
Silence prevailed, and quietly his noble spirit passed 
to the land of shadows. 

'' He sat, as sets the morning star, which goes 
Not down behind the darkened west, nor hides 
Obse-urud amidst the tempests ot" the sky; 
15ut melts awa}-, into the light of heaven." 

IIow fruitful, Mr. Speaker, in admouition to us, 



43 

who were associated with Mr. King in the direction 
of this great Government, and who now survive 
him. are the circumstances which o-ive such mehm- 
choly prominence to the closing hours of his life. 
Upon the full tide of an almost popular acclaim, 
he had been just elevated to one of the most ex- 
alted stations of the earth. But along with the 
flattering consciousness of popular confidence and 
merited promotion, came the stunning sense that 
life's decaying energies were sinking to the grave. 
While the joyous gratulations of an admiring 
people were welling up from the depths of the 
nation's heart, and falling with thrilling accents 
upon the ear of gratified ambition, there was ming- 
ling with them another voice from the spirit-land, 
wdiose tones were heard above the loud tumult of 
popular applause, and calUng to the failing states- 
man — 

" Child of the dust, corae away !" 

The garlands had been thrust upon the victim, 
only that it might prove a more fitting sacrifice 
for the altar, which already smoked for its immo- 



44 

lation. What a humiliating mockery of earth's 
aspirations, which end in nothingness — of its evan- 
escent honors, which vanish at the touch ! and 
how strikingly suggestive of the solemn reflection, 

that 

" The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolution : 

Resolved, That from uu unfeigned respect to the late "William 
R. King, Vice President of the United States, and President of 
the Senate, the Speaker's chair be shrouded in black during the 
present session of Congress; and as a further testimony of respect 
for the memory of the deceased, the members and officers of this 
House will go into mourning, and wear black crape on the left arm 
for thirty days. 

Resolced, As a further mark of respect, that this House do now 
adjourn. 

Mr. Chandler, of Pennsylvania, rose, and said — 
Mr. Speaker: The spectacle presented in tliis 
House, at the present moment, is replete with in- 
struction and cncourauemont. 

The Representatives of a great nation pause, in 
the midst of the initiation of legislative business, to 



45 

express respect for a citizen who owed his elevation 
less to those striking qualities that are sure to ex- 
cite puhlic interest and insure popular favor, than 
to those gentle virtues which are so slow to secure 
general appreciation. 

The Congress of the United States, in paying 
the tribute of gratitude to the departed function- 
ary, declares that it commemorates the virtue by 
which he achieved elevation, and thus it connects 
purity of social life with the honors of official dis- 
tinction. 

The Representatives from the State of iVlabama 
have requested me to take a part in the discharge 
of the melancholy duties in which this House is 
now engaged. It is an honor to be called to do 
honor to the memory of the good ; and patriotism 
finds a grateful exercise in recalling the obligations 
under which the nation rests to those who have 
done service to her in places of distinction. 

I should have promptly declined the service, if I 
did not believe that my colleagues, the Representa- 
tives of Pennsylvania on this floor, shared in the 
sentiments of respect for the dead which I entertain. 



46 

but which I shall so feebly express ; and while they 
and their constituents, and mine, judge according 
to their various political creeds, of the public mea- 
sures which are connected with the name and ser- 
vice of the deceased, they have looked through the 
mist with which party hostility and party partiality 
alike invest their objects, and have done honor to 
the purity of motive and the consistency of patriot- 
ism, in which those measures were proposed or ad- 
vocated. 

I do not suppose that, in the tribute which we 
are now paying to the memory of a distinguished 
Statesman, we are acquitting ourselves, as the Re- 
presentatives of the people, of the indebtedness of 
the country for services throuiih vears of unremit- 
ted devotion. Sir, while the nation shall enjoy the 
prosperity with which she is now blessed, she will 
feel and confess her obligations to those whose 
talents, virtues, and devotion procured the blessing. 
And should adverse circumstances overtake us, we 
should then recall the lessons of wisdom and patriot- 
isiu which the lives and services of our good men 
impart; and while we should lament the conse- 



47 

quences of a neglect of their examples and precepts, 
we should do honor to virtues which we had ceased 
to imitate, and venerate the patriotism which we 
had forgotten to follow. 

The gentleman who has preceded me, has given 
to the house a sketch of the public services of the 
late Vice President King. It is an instructive les- 
son — one that we should " teach diligentl}^ unto 
our children." One that at the present time comes 
with peculiar pertinency, and seems to illustrate 
the nature of our institutions, and to encourage the 
growth of quiet, unobtrusive virtues, by showing 
the ability of the people to appreciate, and their 
willingness to reward them. The history of our 
country shows that consummate statesmanship may 
be combined with the possession and professional 
exercise of military skill. The halls of legisla- 
tion, and the Bureaus of the Departments have 
been the arenas of noble and successful eflbrts of 
those who came from the activity of the camp to 
take part in peaceful forensic contests, or to dis- 
charge the duties of ministerial office. And we 
have seen the accomplished warrior lay aside his 



48 

military trappings, and assume the garb and dis- 
charge the duties of the first office of our nation. 

But while these things show the versatility of 
genius and the wonderful adaptation of mental 
powers, they lead sometimes to the apprehension 
that the people who seemed so struck with the ser- 
vices of the military man, would overlook the unob- 
trusive qualities of the civilian, and forget that pa- 
triotism has its services and its sacrifices in the halls 
of legislation and the walks of diplomacy ; and that 
the qualifications for lofty, place were to be mani- 
fested in the silent, laborious, unpretending privacy 
of the closet, as well as in the more stirring and 
striking duties of military life. 

The official life of Mr. King redeems the people 
of the United States from imputations of a false 
estimate by a flilse standard of the services of their 
public functionaries, and it shows how much confi- 
dence may be placed in their judgment of the capa- 
IjiHtv of men to discharue distiniruished trusts. 

The manners of Mr. King were unobtrusive, re- 
tiring, gentle. No appearance, no act of his could 
be regarded as challenging attention, lie moved 



49 

among his fellow-men with manifestations of con- 
stant respect for their rights and their positions ; 
and among his fellow-legislators he was distinguished 
by that constant deference to others which is the 
characteristic of excessive modesty and available 
talents. Abroad, sir, in Europe, he presented him- 
self with no demands, as a man, upon the conside- 
ration of others, and no claim to distinction, in the 
free use of his ample means. But as the repre- 
sentative of a nation of freemen, he claimed the re- 
gard which his representative character challenged, 
and he maintained social hospitalities with the pro- 
fusion which his ample means warranted, and his 
generous patriotism suggested. 

Mr. King, sir, was a party man. Few men, Mr. 
Speaker, attain political distinction in a country 
like ours without party attachments and party 
feelings. And none will more readily pardon Mr. 
KixG for his efforts for party measures than those 
who, differing from him in politics, know by the 
purity of their own motives how to do justice to 
the sincerity of those by which he was influenced ; 
and this the more readilv because the courteous 



50 

bearing of that distinguished man deprived his op- 
position of all appearance of bitterness, drew from 
the defeat of his opponents, when their defeat en- 
sued, the sting of mortified self-esteem, or imparted 
to his own discomfort the ease of gentlemanly sub- 
mission. 

Sir, from the quiet walks of life, that seemed at 
first to promise little eminence, Mr. King rose to 
the second office in this great Republic, attaining 
that position, too, in the midst of all his country's 
greatness, in the midst of all her amplitude of ex- 
tent, and in the midst of all her profusion of means ; 
more than that, sir, in the midst of all her munifi- 
cence of men. 

Though absent, sir, absent to die, far from the 
immediate seat of his duties, yet the memory of 
his excellence and purity sustained him in the af- 
fection and respect of his brethren of the Senate- 
Chamber, who seemed to feel it a pleasure as well 
as a duty to testify to him their full appreciation of 
his conciliatory habits, his sagacity as a statesman, 
and his justice as their Presiding Officer. 

The annunciation to-day of the death of Mr. 



51 



Vice President King comes to us, sir, with no sur- 
prise. The nation lias already in some form mani- 
fested its regard for a faithful public servant. The 
announcement brings no monition of the brevity 
of human enjoyment and the uncertainty of human 
life. He had lived nearly to man's appointed time 
and beyond man's common lot, and had enjoyed 
much more than ordinary honors. It comes not 
now, sir, to startle us into any manifestation of 
special sorrow. Months have passed, since he 
breathed forth his gentle spirit to God who gave 
it, and the poignant grief which his death caused 
even in his limited family circle, has given place to 
the silent sorrow that occupies itself in a mournful, 
placid recollection of the virtues of the dead. 

We listen, sir, to-day to the formal annunciation 
of the demise of Mr. King, that we may, by public 
demonstration, show to the world our respect for 
the high office which he vacated by his death, and 
our appreciation of the beautiful moral qualities 
and statesman-like abilities by which he illustrated 
all offices in his life. 

The addresses on this occasion, and the adoption 



52 

of the resolutions Avliich are now on the table, can 
add nothing to the future happiness of the dead — 
cannot auirment the f\xme which his social virtues 
and his public career have earned. But, sir, tliev tell 
the world that a Republic can be grateful to those 
who have done her service, and that republicans 
can appreciate those gentle qualities which give 
disrnitv and honor to a statesman's life, and insure 
peace and consolation to a Christian's death. 



Mr. Milton S. Latham, of California, said — 

Mr. Speaker : Gratitude for the kindness of a 
friend, as well as reverence for the greatness of a 
man prompt me to unite my stranger voice with 
yours in this mournful requiem for the departed. 
And if an apologv be needed that tlius early I 
claim your attention, let it be enough to say that, 
iVoiii tlie lips now cold and fixed, and the voice 
now hushed in death, came first the encouraging 
words of counsel and incentive, the gentle tones 
of sympathy and feeling, that have placed me, 
to-dnv. nmonc: you. I could leave to the gentle- 



53 

men wlio liave preceded me, and to the quiet medi- 
tation of my own heart, the retrospect of his irre- 
proachahle life, and the rehearsal of the noble 
principles that he so long and firmly advocated, 
were it not that over every mountain and valley, 
every plain and ravine of California, are scattered 
thick the adopted homes of Alabamians, who, 
while the memories of their childhood are fresh, 
or the graves of their fathers green, can never fail, 
with you, to remember the life of the statesman 
with exultation, or forget to mourn the death of 
the good man with sympathetic expression. How 
natural, then, that I should turn your attention to 
a few pages in the history of a man, who has fdled 
every place bat one to which the ambition of an 
American citizen may aspire, and has filled all with 
distinguished credit to himself and honor to the 
country. 

William Rufus King was a noble specimen of 
an American statesman and gentleman. The in- 
timate friend of John C. Calhoun, and the cotem- 
porary of Webster, Clay, Cass, and Benton, he 
maintained a proud position in the Senate of the 



54 

United States, by bis strong, practical good sense, 
bis experience and wisdom as a legislator, tbe 
acknowledored rectitude of his intentions, and that 
uniform urbanity of manner wbicb marked, not so 
mucb tbe man of conventional breeding, as tbe true 
gentleman at beart. He was no sopbist to him- 
self, and hence it was that be was truthful and 
sincere to all the world. His course in tbe Senate 
was considerate and diirnified. He never yielded 
to tbe impulse of the moment; but made his tongue 
wait upon his judgment. He never knew wliat it 
was to speak, act, or legislate by indirection. He 
was frank and loval to bis colleairues, as he was 
devoted to bis own State, and sincerely attaclied to 
tbe Union. Is it a wonder, then, that tbe Senate 
listened to every word wbicb fell from bis lips; that 
bis voice was potential wlienever it pleaded the cause 
of bis country ? 

It is said that during a primary meeting held 
by one of the factions into wbicb tbe lirst French 
National Convention was divided, one of the men 
who afterwards |)bi}'ed a most conspicuous part 
in history, spoke but a few words, and these with- 



5 



r 



out empliasis. Yet such was the conviction he 
produced, that his views were instantly adopted. 
He possessed the genius of character ; he believed 
what he said, and produced conviction in others. 
It is this peculiar " genius of character" which 
gave force and direction to Mr. King's speeches 
in the United States Senate, and produced that 
deference to his avowed opinions and principles 
which none of his colleagues shared in a more 
eminent degree. In all that belonged to him indi- 
vidually, Mr. King was the very type of an Ameri- 
can gentleman. Free from artifice and disguise, 
his every thought and instinct was chivalric. Not 
to adventitious circumstances, not to the chances 
of birth or fortune, not to the society into which he 
was thrown, was he indebted either for the distinc- 
tion to which he rose in public life, or to the grace 
which adorned his private character. He never 
borrowed thoughts or sentiments from others. His 
mind and heart Avere of American growth, while 
his eminent virtues served to illustrate our national 
character. As Americans we recognise no standard 
of greatness which is not based on moral excellence. 



66 

such as pre-eminently distinguished the early foun- 
ders of our institutions and laws; and in this re- 
spect fcAv of the great men whose names have passed 
into our history, can boast of a nearer approach to 
those great exemplars, than he whose irreparaljle 
loss we now mourn in common with the whole coun- 
try. During his long and eventful life, of which a 
very large portion was spent in the public service, 
there is not an act which can be referred to but to 
his honor — not a suspicion that could mar the purity 
and lustre of his escutcheon. Mr. KixG became a 
member of the Senate in 1819, when the State of 
Alabama was admitted into the Union, and enjoyed 
the honor of representing her, with but one inter- 
mission, ever since. He was a member of that 
l)ody when he was nominated for the Vice Presi- 
dency, and its presiding ollicer. The respect of his 
colleagues had already assigned him the place to 
which he was subseijueutly called by the almost 
unanimous voice of the people. He was from prin- 
ci[)le and conviction a State's Rights man; but he 
did not love the Union less because he loved Ala- 
bama more. While he was serving his own State 



57 



with fidelity and honor, he was not remiss in his 
duties to the whole American Confederacy. Like 
his illustrious prototype, John C. Calhoun, he 
battled for the rights of his State in order to secure 
that harmony between Federal and State power, 
which is the essence of the Union, and without 
which, it is impossible to preserve our system of 
self-government. In the memorable session of 
184:9-'50, Mr. King voted for nearly all the com- 
promise measures as an act of devotion to the Na- 
tional Union, without surrendering a single cardinal 
point of the political faith which had guided him 
through life, and had secured to him the affection 
and attachment of the citizens of his own State. 
The most important event in his political history, 
was when he represented the United States in the 
Court of France during a most interesting and ex- 
citing period. It was well known that the Govern- 
ments of England and France, severally and jointly, 
opposed the annexation of Texas to the American 
Union, and that similar instructions, had been given 
by these Governments to their respective Ministers 
in Washington and Texas. These instructions were. 



58 

no doubt, intended to be used with diplomatic effect ; 
neither party seeming at the time willing to pro- 
ceed to extremities. Mr. KiXG, true to American 
character, and to the generous instincts of his nature, 
did not plunge into the labyrinth of European di- 
plomacy. He had nothing to disguise, nothing to 
withhold, nothing to ask for that was not just; and 
with the straightforwardness and dignity which 
ought always to characterize an American Minister 
abroad, at once demanded of the King himself a 
frank avowal of his intentions. Louis Philippe 
might have been prepared to evade the artful ap- 
proaches of a Talleyrand or a Richelieu ; but he 
had no means of refusing to answer a plain ques- 
tion, honestly proposed by a foreign Minister, whose 
official rank did not add the weight of a feather to 
the volume of his private character. Mr. King 
received the desired reply as to the linal course the 
French Government meant to adopt should Texas 
be annexed, and became at once satisfied that our 
relations with France would not be disturbed by 
the event. The King s reply was reported to Mr. 
Calhoun, then Secretary of State, and the annexa- 



59 

tion was accomplished, without even a protest from 
any European Power. Subsequently, when the 
diplomatic correspondence was published, Mr. Gui- 
zot, then the French Premier, attempted to raise a 
question of veracity between himself and Mr. King, 
in regard to the reply given by Louis Philippe to 
our representative in Paris. But such was the 
character for honesty and truth he had established 
for himself during his short residence in the French 
capital, and such the suspicions with which Mr. 
Guizot's acts were viewed by the French public, 
that there was not a single French paper which 
dared to doubt the word of our Minister; and the 
aspersion was only translated from an English 
paper, and published in the French Government 
journal. The object was merely to justify the po- 
licy of France as against England ; but our Minis- 
ter's straightforward course put an end to even that 
subterfuge. lie demanded, as a gentleman, that 
the King should respect the assurance given him in 
regard to Texas; and the Kiug did respect it, 
and Mr. Guizot furnished a copy of it in writing to 
Mr. King. Thus did not only our Government, 



60 

but the person of our Minister, acliieve a signal tri- 
umph over the sinuous course of European poUtics 
and statesmen. 

Pending this controversy, it is said, Mr. Guizot 
attempted to assuage Mr. King, by assuring him 
that ''he had often been told that he (Guizot) lied." 
To which Mr. King modestly replied, that ^'he 
had never been told so." French appreciation of 
sarcasm had no difficulty in discovering the true 
meaning of Mr. King's caustic reply. I cannot but 
allude to his kind and noble disposition to bring 
forward, and advance the fortunes of young men, 
struggling up in life. I have myself been the re- 
cipient of his kindness in this respect. In all such 
relations he never assumed the position of patron 
and client. It was not his position, but his heart 
which determined the place occupied by his friends, 
and his exalted character looked to no return of 
favors. After his election to the Vice Presidencv, 
when lingering under a painful and mortal disease, 
in a foreign country, liis thoughts naturally re- 
verted to his own beloved Alabama. Once more he 
wished to behold the sun of his country — once more 



61 

he desired to breathe the invigorating air of home. 
Friend and kindred had followed him abroad; but 
he yearned for a wider circle of hearts beating in uni- 
son with his own. The American people had taken 
a deep interest in his recovery. They had a pride in 
seeing him occupy the position to which their suf- 
frages had raised him. They had an abiding confi- 
dence in his integrity as a statesman, and a warm 
sympathy for his bodily sufferings. With breathless 
anxiety did the people receive the tidings of the pro- 
gress of his illness, and each note of sorrow, which 
travelled with the velocity of light, found a painful 
echo in the public breast. To the people of his coun- 
try did the old statesman and patriot return, to draw 
his last breath. Once more he trod the soil of his 
home; once more his eyes gladdened with the sight 
of his native land, free, prosperous, and happy; once 
more his heart beat with rapturous delight at the 
future prospects and greatness of this glorious Union. 
The strife and clamor of ruthless partisans had sul)- 
sided; the olive leaf of peace had once more spread 
her blessings over twenty-five millions of contented 
beings ; and as his dying lips murmured a blessing 



62 

on them all, his pure soul was wafted to that 
unknown land, which, in the midst of the busy 
scenes of his life, his Christian heart always looked 
to as his last and surest resting-place. 

"Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime; 
And departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time. 

" Footprints that perhaps another, 
Sailing o'er life's solemn main — 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother — 
Seeing, shall take heart again. 

" Let us, then, be up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait." 



Mr. Taylor, of Ohio, said : 

Mr. Speaker : Death has so often invaded this 
house during the six years in which T have been a 
member of Congress, that wlienever a new Con- 
gress convenes, I am strongly impressed with the 



63 

conviction, that some of our body, during their term 
of service, must pay the debt of nature, and end their 
Uves in the public employment. The Senate, though 
Only numbering sixty-two members, rarely passes a 
session without being called upon to pay the usual 
funeral honors to some one or more of its members. 
Even the executive mansion is not unfrequently in- 
vaded by the King of Terrors ; and men in public 
station are everywhere constantly reminded, that 
for life, and all their earthly blessings, they are de- 
pendent upon Him " in whose hands our breath is, 
and whose are all our ways." 

The official announcement of the death of the 
Hon. William R. King, late Vice President of the 
United States, and the well-deserved eulogies this 
day pronounced upon his character, bring freshly to 
our recollection the manly form and gentlemanly 
bearing of that distinguished man, and his long and 
eminent public service. 

With the incidents of his private life and history, 
I am not so fiimiliar as to speak advisedly ; but his 
personal friends upon this tloor, have clearly pre- 
sented them for our consideration. I had the 



64 

pleasure to know liira for many years as a public 
man, and to meet him often in the social circles of 
this city. And though we differed widely in our 
opinions upon some of the most important political 
questions that have lately agitated the country, I 
always found him mingling moderation M'ith firm- 
ness, and a proper respect for the opinions of those 
who differed with him. A just and high sense of 
honor seemed to me to mark his public and jirivate 
career ; and I cheerful!}^ express these views of the 
distinguished man, whose death we now commemo- 
rate, because I hold that no differences of opinion 
in politics, should ever make us forget that we are 
all Americans, that we are all under the protection 
of the same Constitution and laws, and must share 
alike the benefits or evils that may result from our 
public actions. A higher motive should alwa3's 
check a too great asperity of political feeling, and 
inculcate a wise moderation and proper toleration 
towards those who dilfer with us. For, after all, 
the exertions of the wisest and the best men amongst 
us are but transient ; they are vain and futile, unless 
sanctioned and approved by the great Author of all 



65 

good. Mr. King appeared to me possessed in a high 
degree^ of a wise moderation, and of a tolerant 
spirit ; and his long experience in public life made 
him eminently useful. He seemed to me to com- 
bine, in a very high degree, the strictest integrity 
and purest honor, — and what the great poet so ad- 
mirably portrays — 

" Witli all good grace to grace a gentleman." 
Mr. Ashe, of North Carolina, rose and said : 

Mr. Speaker : having the honor to represent the 
county in which William R. King was born, and 
the larger portion of the district which first returned 
him as a member of this House — having enjoyed, 
in a manner grateful to my recollection, his friend- 
ship and confidence, and being at present the repre- 
sentative of a numerous and highly respectable 
kindred he left with us, I feel it a solemn duty that 
I shoidd not allow the present occasion to pass 
without adding my humble but heartfelt testimonial 
to the truthfulness of the richly-deserved and high 
commendations which have been bestowed on him 



66 

by the honorable gentlemen who have preceded me. 
After the indulgence of obsequial griefs, which are 
a fit tribute to departed worth, the soul thirsts to 
immortalize, to assimilate to itself the noble and 
virtuous endowments of deceased friends. Hence 
we have, as the remains of a venerable antiquity, 
the most magnificent Egyptian pyramids, splendid 
Grecian mausoleums, Roman sepulchres of extensive 
dimensions ; but these were designed to portray the 
outward rather than the inward man. As ancillary 
to the same end various expedients and devices 
were adopted to perpetuate, to rescue from the de- 
struction of time the personal appearance, after the 
soul had taken its flight. Vain imaginings ! Empty 
conceits! The recorded reminiscence of a good 
work, of a charitable deed, of a benevolent thought, 
are worth more than a " Pelion upon Ossa" of such 
monuments. Posterity is grateful, and if it can be 
l)t'nerited by any single incident of a man's life, the 
character of the benefactor will be remembered and 
appreciated. And if his deeds of goodness should 
1111 a volume, posterity will never weary in " turning 
the leaf to read it/' and to acknowledge its gratitude 



67 



to the author. And such a prized volume have we 
afforded us by the life of William R. King, a 
contemplation of which fills our hearts with gra- 
titude, and inspires us to rejoice, that as one 
amonsi us he lived, and to sorrow that "he is no 
more." 

I believe it was Philip of Macedon who gratefully 
sacrificed to the gods that a son had been born to 
him in time to derive instruction from the great 
philosopher, Aristotle. If such was the veneration 
of a barbarian warrior for a heathen philosopher, 
how much more grateful should we feel, both as 
statesmen and citizens, that our lots should have 
been cast in the same horoscope with that of Clay, 
Calhoun, and King, in the history of each of whom 
" there is a philosophy teaching by example"' well 
fitted to steer our frail bark down its wayward 
course, clear of the dangerous rocks and shoals, 
which are prone to wreck it. These distinguished 
compatriots, who, for nearly half a century, com- 
manded the admiration of the American world, 
though widely differing one from another in pecu- 
liarities of character, yet each, in his life, left us a 



68 

legacy which, the more we read, the more w^e will 
appreciate. 

The two former, "havina" sathered tosrether their 
earthly harvest," previous to the adjournment of 
the last Congress, have received from their admiring 
friends that tribute of respect which we are now 
called upon to render to the last. While we do not 
claim for our distinguished friend either the thrill- 
ing eloquence of Clay, or the philosophical dis- 
crimination of Calhoun, yet, in the various positions 
which it was his fortune to fill, we find developed 
the true elements of moral and intellectual great- 
ness. 

"Perhaps one of the highest encomiums ever 
pronounced on a man in public life," said the late 
John Quincy Adams, "is that of a historian, emi- 
nent for his profound acquaintance with manlcind, 
who, in painting a great character by a single line, 
says r 'he was just equal to all the duties of the 
highest oilices which ho attained, and never above 
them. There are, in some men, qualities which 
dazzle and consume to little or no valuable purpose. 
These seldom belong to the great benefactors of 



69 

mankind.' " Such were not the qualities of Colonel 
King ; but in all tlie relations of life, in every po- 
sition he attained, he was fully equal to their 
responsibilities, and discharged their varied duties 
with fidelity and ability. 

Colonel King was born in Sampson County, in 
my State, April, 1786. His father, William King, 
was a aentleman of fortune and character. During 
the revolutionary war, he rendered important ser- 
vices to his country's cause, both by personal service 
and the 2;enerous use of his fortune. After the 
conclusion of the war, he was a member of the 
Convention which was called to adopt the Federal 
Constitution, and was repeatedly elected a delegate 
to the General Assembly from his county. His 
situation in life enabled him to bestow on his chil- 
dren all the advanta<]fes of education which our 
country at that time afforded. 

Colonel King was sent at an early age to the 
University of North Carolina, located at Chapel 
Hill, which institution he left in his seventeenth 
year, bearing with him the happy consolation of 
having commanded the respect of his professors, the 



70 

love and esteem of his associates. He studied law 
with William DufTy, an eminent jurist, residing in 
the town of Favetteville, where he formed friend- 
ships which he preserved with affection to the day 
of his death. On being admitted to the bar, he 
settled in his native county, from which he was 
returned the following year as a member of the 
Legislature. By this body he was elected Solicitor 
for the Wilmington judicial district, in which situ- 
ation he continued for two years. He was then 
auain returned to the Legislature for the ^ears 
1808-9. In the year 1810 he was elected to the 
Congress of the United States, being the Twelfth 
Congress. This was a most important crisis in our 
national affairs. France, dominant in Europe, Eng- 
land, mistress of the ocean, our neutrality was 
grossly disregarded by each of these supercilious 
powers. To our menacing protests, France ulti- 
mately yielded respect. England continued her 
career of haughty- insolence. War or national 
degradation was inevitable. 

True republicans avoided not the issue, but met 
it boldly. Colonel KixG acted with them with his 



71 

whole soul ; and, though one of the youngest mem- 
bers of the Congress, he was distinguished for the firm 
and fervid earnestness with which he supported the 
illustrious Madison in his patriotic efforts to sustain 
the honor of our country. lie continued a member 
of Congress until after the conclusion of the war, 
when he accepted a diplomatic position abroad, as- 
sociated Avith that scholar and statesman, William 
Pinckney. On his return from Europe, he changed 
his residence from North Carolina to Alabama, car- 
rying with him the cordial respect and good wishes 
of all — the enmity of no one. Alabama was then 
a territory, but on the eve of organizing a State 
government, and as soon as it was done, she, al- 
thouiih Colonel King was then absent from the 
State, honored him with one of her first Senatorial 
appointments in the Congress of the United States 
— a most flattering mark of confidence, which con- 
fidence he enjoyed in the amplest manner during 
the remainder of his long and eventful life. It is 
unnecessary for me to read further from the volume 
of his life. His subsequent career has already been 
detailed by able and experienced friends. AVhat is 



72 

the lesson which posterity can learn from this volume? 
It is useful! It is significant ! Let the honor, let 
the happiness of our country, as with him, be our 
ruling aspiration ; but in its advocation, let us so 
attemper, as he did, our conduct, so dispense the 
charities of life, that we can command for ourselves 
the love of friends, the admiration of opponents. 
While such is the brilliant picture of his public 
career, his private life, his frank and confulin,^- 
disposition, his uniform courtesy and kindness, the 
single-hearted devotedness of his friendship, his love 
of right, his hatred of wrong, his bold and chivalrie 
temper, present a character worthy of our study and 
emulation. 

" A combination and a form indeed, 
Where every god did seem to set his seal, 
To give the world assurance of a man." 



Mr. Benton, of Missouri, said : 

Mr. Speaker : The relation in which I have stood 
to the eminent deceased, whose loss we all deplore, 
must plead my excuse for a departure from the 



73 

ancient practice wliicli limit the number of tribute- 
offerers, on an occasion like the present, to the 
mover and seconder of the resolutions which express 
the sense of the House at the death of a fellow- 
member. 

Natives of the same State, and nearly of the 
same age, we emigrated wdien young to, what was 
then, the Far West; and by the f\xvor of our adopted 
States, were both returned, and nearly at the same 
time, to occupy seats on the floor of the American 
Senate. Commencing — he in 1819, 1 in 1820 — we 
remained for thirty years (with the exception of 
the brief interval in which he represented his coun- 
try at a foreign court), members of the same body 
— intimately associated in all the current business 
of that body, and in all the amenities of social and 
private life. 

But my knowledge of him goes beyond thirty 
years — goes back to forty — and not then to the be- 
ginning of his Congressional service — when I first 
saw him on this lloor. And I mention this first 
time of seeing him, and in what place, to do lionor 
to the puhlic man who could so long retain the con- 



74 

fidence of his constituents ; and to their honor for 
the steadiness of their support; and to the credit of 
our institutions, to which such stability between 
constituent and representative promises a duration, 
not to be measured by the brief lives of those Re- 
publics whose people were given up to fickleness 
and versatility. 

These circumstances plead my excuse for depart- 
in 2: from a custom which limited the number of 
those Avho should have the privilege of expressing, 
in the presence of the national representation, their 
own and the general feeling, at the demise of a 
brother member. 

The members who have preceded me have stated, 
and well stated, the illustrious career of the de- 
ceased — tracing his course through along gradation, 
always rising, of public honors — from the General 
Assembly of his native State, to the second ofTice 
of his countrv — tlie Vice Presidencv of this great 
Republic. 

To me it onh- l)L'l()n<is to join niv voice to theirs, 
and to the voices of all who knew him, in cele- 
brating the integrity and purity of his life — the de- 



75 

conim of his manners — his assiduous and punctual 
attention to every duty — and the ability and intelli- 
gence which he brought to the discussion of the na- 
tional affairs during his long service of thirty years. 

Faithful to his adopted State, he exhibited, when 
duty to he?' permitted, the beautiful trait of filial 
affection to the honored State of his birth — a State 
which has so many claims upon her children (be- 
sides that of having first given them the vital air), 
for their constant and grateful remembrance — 
wheresoever they may go. 

As friend, as associate, as native of the same State 
with the late Vice President King, I appear on this 
occasion, and feel it to be, in me — his senior in age 
— a providential privilege to assist in doing honor 
to his memory in the presence of the national repre- 
sentation. 



3Ir. Phillips, of Alabama, said : 

Mr. Speaker : 1 cannot permit this occasion to 
pass by without paying tribute to the memory of 
the deceased. 

It is not, sir, to contribute to a mere ceremony. 



76 

or to conform to any public expectation, that I now 
occupy the floor. My feehngs are far too deep for 
such lip-service demonstration. 

It was my fortune, Mr. Speaker, to have enjoyed 
the full confidence and friend.-^hip of William R. 
King, for the whole period of my residence in the 
State which I have now the honor to represent. I 
early learned to appreciate his high qualities ; and 
time, which tests all things, served but to confirm 
my judgment. I may now safely say of him dead, 
what, with equal confidence, I may have said were 
he now living, that the Republic never produced a 
man of more exalted integrity, or of a higher clii- 
wdry of character. 

I visited Washington for the first time a few years 
ago, and though it has been said (with what truth 
I cannot assert), that corruption here stalks at noon- 
day, it was with just jiride as an Alabamian. tliat I 
learned from all quarters and all parties, that through 
his long service in the public councils of upwards of 
a quarter of n C(Mitnry. lie had not only ]ireserved 
I lis reputation intact, but freed, even from the breath 
of suspicion. 



77 

It was this purity of character, joined to the high 
quaHties of a remarkably well-baLanced mind, tliat 
enabled him to enjoy, for so long a period, the con- 
fidence of the people of his own State, and of the 
whole Confederacy. 

He has filled the highest offices, and discharged 
the weightiest duties, with honor to himself and ad- 
vantage to his country; well, therefore, may we con- 
clude, in the language of the Presidential message, 
that the death of such a man is an irreparable loss 
to the country. 

A great man has fallen, and it is fit we mourn 
him ! Dying, as he lived, with a full knowledge of 
the past, and a just appreciation of the future, may 
I not indulge in the hope that the light of his ex- 
ample may long continue to illuminate the path of 
the future representatives of the State which holds 
his remains and cherishes his memory. 

The question was taken, and the resolutions were 
unanimously adopted. 



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